“At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner. As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.” And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty. When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!” Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.”
Genesis 12:10-20 NLT
One of the first things we learn about Abram is that the character of a man of faith is not the same thing as his righteousness. As illustrated before, Abram was picked out of a lack of his own ability and capacity, and given something extraordinary to cement his chances for success. He was given God’s favor. That being said, it was because he mostly displayed negative qualities and not positive qualities by the world’s standards. The only positive quality in his narrative origin is the fact of his love for his wife. This wouldn’t have made sense in a pre Christian world. Here we see that his love for his wife wasn’t exactly a pure one. It was still fraught with misogyny and opportunism. When given the opportunity to have God’s favor and her, he chose to preserve himself by using her. There is an important truth present here. Faith is accounted to us as righteousness, but it is not righteousness itself. Abram’s faith was incredibly immature. He was clearly a man with many behaviors that would need to be undone. This only shows God’s character more. By his divine providence, Abram is corrected, but not rejected. When we consider what faith some might have, we must remember that God takes all kinds in building his kingdom. It can sometimes take a lifetime to turn a scoundrel into a saint.
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